Genesis 20–24

Abraham and Abimelech

20And Abraham journeyed from ^athere to the South, and dwelt between ^bKadesh and Shur, and ^cstayed in Gerar. ²Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, ^d“She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and ^etook Sarah.

³But ^fGod came to Abimelech ^gin a dream by night, and said to him, ^h“Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ¹a man’s wife.”

⁴But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ⁱwill You slay a righteous nation also? ⁵Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ ^jIn the ²integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”

⁶And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For ^kI also withheld you from sinning ^lagainst Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; ^mfor he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, ⁿknow that you shall surely die, you ^oand all who are yours.”

⁸So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. ⁹And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I ³offended you, ^pthat you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me ^qthat ought not to be done.” ¹⁰Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”

¹¹And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely ^rthe fear of God is not in this place; and ^sthey will kill me on account of my wife. ¹²But indeed ^tshe is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³And it came to pass, when ^uGod caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, ^vsay of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

¹⁴Then Abimelech ^wtook sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, “See, ^xmy land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; ^yindeed this ⁴vindicates you ^zbefore all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was ⁵rebuked.

¹⁷So Abraham ^aprayed to God; and God ^bhealed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; ¹⁸for the Lord ^chad closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac is Born

21And the Lord ^avisited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah ^bas He had spoken. ²For Sarah ^cconceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, ^dat the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—^eIsaac. ¹⁴Then Abraham ^fcircumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^gas God had commanded him. ⁵Now ^hAbraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶And Sarah said, ⁱ“God has ²made me laugh, and all who hear ^jwill laugh with me.” ⁷She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^kFor I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Depart

⁸So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹And Sarah saw the son of Hagar ^lthe Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^mscoffing. ³¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, ⁿ“Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” ¹¹And the matter was very ⁴displeasing in Abraham’s sight ^obecause of his son.

¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for ^pin Isaac your seed shall be called. ¹³Yet I will also make ^qa nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your ⁵seed.”

¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and ⁶a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and ^rsent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

¹⁷And ^sGod heard the voice of the lad. Then the ^tangel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for ^uI will make him a great nation.”

¹⁹Then ^vGod opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. ²⁰So God ^wwas with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, ^xand became an archer. ²¹He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother ^ytook a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²²And it came to pass at that time that ^zAbimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, ^a“God is with you in all that you do. ²³Now therefore, ^bswear ⁷to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

²⁵Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants ^chad seized. ²⁶And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.” ²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them ^dmade a ⁸covenant. ²⁸And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

²⁹Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ^e“What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”

³⁰And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that ^fthey may be my witness that I have dug this well.” ³¹Therefore he ^gcalled that place ⁹Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

³²Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and ^hthere called on the name of the Lord, ⁱthe Everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed

22Now it came to pass after these things that ^aGod tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

²Then He said, “Take now your son, ^byour only son Isaac, whom you ^clove, and go ^dto the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a ^eburnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

³So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the ¹lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will ^fcome back to you.”

⁶So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^glaid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ²lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the ^hlamb for a ⁱburnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and ^jlaid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹But the ^kAngel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹²And He said, ^l“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^mnow I know that you fear God, since you have not ⁿwithheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of the place, ³The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶and said: ^o“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—¹⁷blessing I will ^pbless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^qas the stars of the heaven ^rand as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^syour descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. ^18tIn your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ^ubecause you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to ^vBeersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The Family of Nahor

²⁰Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed ^wMilcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21xHuz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father ^yof Aram, ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³And ^zBethuel begot ⁴Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

Sarah’s Death and Burial

23Sarah lived one hundred and…